Green Chutney with coconut

Ingriedients 

Shredded coconut 1/4 cup

Cilantro - 10 sprigs 

1 jalapeño 

1/2 tsp lime juice 

Ginger small piece 

Salt

Tempering 

Mustard seeds 

Roasted Chana Dal

Urad Dal split

Curry leaves , 3-4

Sesame oil/ mustard oil.

Dry chilli

Method:

Grind all the ingredients for chutney other than the tempering and lime juice with as little water as possible. Add lime juice. 

Roast the tempering mix in sesame oil and add to the chutney. Mix and serve. 

Ragi Rava Dosai

Ingredients

1/2 cup Ragi flour
1 cup rava dosa mix from Gits
OR
1/4 cup rice flour, 3/4 cup Sooji
Optional :
1 Finely chopped onion
Cilantro
Green chillies
Ginger grated (1/4 tsp)

Take about 8 oz hot water ( microwave for a min) and add it to the Ragi and rava flours.
Whisk to make smooth batter, dilute it further to make it buttermilk consistency.
Add onions, chillies, ginger, salt extra if needed and cilantro .


Heat tava on high, then turn it to medium and pour the batter onto the tava it will form a holes in the dosa as you pour , this dosa does not need spreading. Forming 'holes' is the indication that the batter is of right consistency . Add more rava if too water and breaking up with when flipping the dosa. Flip and roast again.

Serve with chutney.

Pacchi Pulusu

So this pacchi shall not be confused with the pacchi in aloo mattar recipe ;) the peril of being in a multi lingual family ! This pacchi is the Telugu pacchi means raw, while the Pacchi in all mattar recipe is Konkani for Aunt .

So this pacchi pulusu roughly translates to raw soup or cold soup , no cooking involved!!

Ingridients

Tamarind - small lime sized. Or 1/4 spoon of tamarind concentrate
1/2 Large onion or 1 small onion finely chopped
1 Thai chilli or half a jalapeño sliced or chopped into big pieces
Cilantro for garnish
Water 2 cups
Salt to taste.

Soften the tamarind and squeeze the juice out , add to water
Sprinkle some salt on the onions and chillies , and mix and let it rest for 5 mins.
This is important , because we are not cooking the ingredients, salt will sort of cleanse and disinfect if I can say, the ingredients.

Take the salted onions and green chillies and add them to the tamarind water , while adding , just give them a nice massage / squeeze, this will make the onions and chillies ooze out their juices and flavor the pulusu well.

The more you squeeze the more spicy it will turn out!! So watch out. But don't worry if it's too spicy just remove some water and add plain water with salt to Mellow it.

Garnish with cilantro. Adjust salt if needed.

As you see this recipe is more about technique than ingredients or proportion, so you can be flexible in quantities as per taste!

Whole Moong Khichidi

This recipe is adapted from Anupy Singlas slow cooker book.

Ingredients

1 cup whole moong dry
1/2 cup brown or white rice
1/2 cup Mixed veggies if desired (frozen)
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon jeera seeds
1 teaspoon ghee
Optionally 1 tomato and 1/2 onion rough chopped
Salt to taste
4 cups of water

Recipe makes 5-6 cups of cooked Khichidi

Slow cooker :
Combine all ingredients in the slow cooker and cook for 3.5-4 hours.  Check the moong to see if the Khichidi is ready. Serve with raw onions or spicy pacchi pulusu and a tiny bit of ghee.

Pressure cooker

Soak the moong for 3 hours if possible , then combine all ingredients in a pressure cooker and cook for 1 whistle and sim for 2-3 mins and let it release pressure fully before opening.

Pacchi's Aloo Mattar.

Recipe from my Pacchi.

Serves 6-8

2 big onions
12 garlic cloves
1/2 inch ginger
6 big tomatoes
1 cup mattar
1 pack paneer of choice/quantity.
Salt
1 teaspoon chilli powder
2 tsp turmeric
4 tsp corriander power
1/2 spoon pepper
1/2 spoon kitchen king masala
1 pinch kasoori methi.


 Method:

•  Saute and Brown the onions
• Add mashed ginger, garlic.
• Saute. Add tomatoes, salt. Cover and  cook till oil separates.
• add masalas other than kitchen king and kasoori methi.
• Grind the mixture.
• Put it back in dish, add kitchen king masala , peas, water.
• Cook for few mins. Meanwhile roast paneer on stove top (light brown on each side)
• Add paneer to the curry. Finally add kasuri methi.
• Garnish with cilantro leaves before serving.

Punjabi Kadhi

Yogurt 1 cup
Besan 1/4 cup
Turmeric powder 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Chat masala - 1 tsp
dry red chillies 1
Cilantro few sprigs
Onion sliced - 1/2 large or 1 medium.

For kadhi, whisk yogurt well and mix besan. Blend thoroughly so as to ensure that there are no lumps. Add turmeric powder, salt and three cups of water.

Heat two tablespoons of oil in a kadai. Add red chillies and roast. Add mustrard seeds and allow to crackle.

Add yogurt mixture. Bring to a boil and simmer on low heat stirring occasionally.

On the side saute the onions in 1 tsp oil and some chilli powder , carmelize it as much as your liking.

Once the yougurt mixture has come to a boil on lower the heat more and add the carmelized onions (and pakoras if you have them) and simmer for 5 mins and take off the stove.

Serve with warm rice.

Tingling Moongra

Moongra - a less known vegetable of India, looks like string beans with pointy tail and tastes like radish, some even call it rat-tailed radish - but it grown over the surface of earth unlike the radish.

When I first spotted it in the store I mistook it to be the japanese edamame, so decided to make a japanese like dish but then tasting it made me go another route and landed up in the amazing tasting recipe.

Ingredients :
Moongra or rat tailed raddish - about 1/4 lb
Chilli vinegar - enough for marination (about 4-5 tbsp)
fresh ground pepper - 2 tbsp.
oil for sauteing.

Preparation:
If the moongra has any stalks or stems on it, just pluck them out, let the pointy tails be as is.

Cooking:
1. Boil the moongra for 15-20 mins in medim-large pot (dont worry if it gives a fishy smell)
2. Once boiled take them out and drain the water.
3. In a pan heat about 1 tbsp of olive oil and when sufficiently heated add the boiled moongra and saute a bit.
4. Add the vinegar and a pinch of sea salt(add more vinegar if you want it to be more tangy and try sweet&sour vinegar for sweet sour taste)
5. Cover and saute for 10 mins until the beans turn into a dull green (dirty green) color.
6. Take off the stove and garnish with fresh ground peppercorns just before serving.